Why I Can’t Stand Most Paranormal Shows

On my previous post I briefly vented about the paranormal shows and how they irk me with everything they get wrong. Be warned. This post is a much longer vent session about why I can’t stand those shows.

While Jeremy was gone, I ended up binge watching a few of those paranormal shows. I regretted it but couldn’t stop watching it. They were so horribly bad that it was almost comical. Comical until I realized there are people out there that watch this stuff and try to imitate it which just causes problems for everyone. I’ve seen where people have angered spirits because they didn’t know what they were doing. I’ve seen people get hurt because they had no idea what they were doing and were hunting in abandoned places they didn’t have permission to be in.

This is just a list of some of my biggest pet peeves from those shows. By the way, I’m not going to name the shows. I don’t want to accidentally encourage people to watch these shows because out right naming them, but you may be able to figure out what show I’m talking about by my descriptions.

Why do they have to provoke???

THIS is my biggest pet peeve. Do they have to show they are all so macho by yelling “Come get me, you stupid ***!” or “Push me, mother****!”. I’ve never seen a woman do this on any of the shows. I’ve seen it in person and I shut that down real quick. In the shows, it’s always a guy acting all big and buff yelling at the spirits to show themselves. You are walking into their home or their business and yelling at them? Oh, hell no. Show them respect and you’ll probably get more responses.

Why do they run away when they get a response?

Not only do these guys provoke these spirits with commands and insults but after they get a response they freak out and run away! They just demanded the spirits to attack them, push them, touch them and then they freak out when it happens. What did they expect to happen when making those demands? If you are going to be “man enough” to make those demands, be man enough to stick around for the responses. Otherwise you’re just going to upset the spirits and train them to think all people investigating are the same and will start to attack innocent people. Again, treat the spirits with respect and stick around to listen to what they have to say. If you are legitimately looking for evidence that spirits are real or answers for what is going on, running from responses won’t help you achieve your goal.

Why don’t they call out the noises they make?

Whenever I am on an investigation, especially when I am doing an EVP session, I call out what I’m doing (i.e. moving my foot, stomach gurgling, coughing, taking a picture, etc.). I do that because when reviewing tape recorders or video, I don’t have to remember if I caused the noise. It helps rule out contamination from me. I watched a show where they would have two or three people with cameras with external flashes that would constantly be taking pictures during the EVP session. Not only are those flashes going to mess up the evidence, but the multiple lights cause all sorts of issues with sending shadows everywhere.

What’s with all the fancy toys?

Why do they feel the need to show huge, flashy pointless toys? I mean spirit boxes the size of bread boxes or giant, weird tesla coils. You can’t force spirits to respond if they don’t want to. If you want good, clean evidence keep it old school. Basic cameras, voice recorders, k2 meters, etc. will get you better results than all these fancy fluffs. They are a waste of money. It just seems like that they are using them for silly gimmicks. Speaking of gimmicks what’s up with silly names like ProZak?

What’s with the “fancy” clothes?

I see so many shows where they are dressed like rock stars with flashy clothes and jewelry or women in jeans that have rhinestones on them. Don’t they understand what happens when light hits flashy/ shiny stuff? You get false orbs. I have seen multiple people get excited over the fact that when they move they see orbs. You can trace the orbs patterns with how the lights hit their clothes. When I go on investigations, I am strict about what people wear because I don’t want people contaminating potential evidence. I will go into orbs on a later post.

I have a feeling that this maybe a multiple post subject. I have many more issues with shows but it’s going on 3am. I don’t want to get pissed off before I head to bed and sometimes these shows can really piss me off. Jeremy use to laugh at how passionate I get watching these shows but now that he has experienced living the paranormal life with me, he gets just as upset as I do.

I do want to mention one show that does get it right. I highly recommend Kindred Spirits. Amy Bruni and Adam Berry (who you might remember from Ghost Hunters) try to help families that are having issues with spirits. They help the families either live with spirits or help calm the spirits. They help show that what can appear to be a demonic entity is most likely just an unhappy spirit trying to be noticed or convey a message to the living. The way they investigate is very similar to the way I investigate. I really hope that they renew the series for a third season. I binged watch season one and two in one day. I especially appreciate how in season two they showed how untrained investigators can really mess things up for the living and hurt the spirits.

What do paranormal shows do that tick you off? What do you wish they did differently? What do you like that they do? Let me know in the comments.